Top Ten Tuesday: Poolside Reads

I love reading by the pool during the summer! My family home has a pool in the backyard that we have had since I was in first grade so pool-side reading has been a staple for me for a long time. I have certain genres that I love to read by the pool, so I thought I would share some of the books from these genres on my TBR for this summer.
Hosted by: The Broke and the Bookish

Mysteries 

 

1. Anything by Agatha Christie- I love reading mysteries in the sun, and Christie is the Queen of Mystery. I've loved all the Christie I have read so far so I am eager to read more.
2. Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor by Stephanie Barron I'm really excited to start this mystery series where Jane Austen solves mysteries.
3. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde- This literary based mystery looks like a lot of fun; I have heard lots of great things about Fforde.


Nonfiction

 

4. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Byrson- Nonfiction is another of my favorite pool-side reads, particularly outdoorsy and nature inspire non-fiction like Bryson's novels. This will be my first Byrson and I'm excited to see what all the hype is about.
5. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer- This nonfiction classic has been on my TBR forever, I would love to cross it off by the pool this summer.
6. Memoirs of a Beatnik by Diane Di Prima- I will be starting this one really soon. It's on my Classics Club Women's Literature Event TBR and I love the Beatnik movement. I'm eager to learn more about women in the movement as they were somewhat of a rarity and faced discrimination.


Young Adult

 

7. Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas- I have heard that this YA thriller is supper addtictive, perfect for a pool read.
8. The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski- I need to finsih this trilogy and the other two books were fast paced and sucked me in so I expect this one to as well.
9. These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker and Kelley Zekas- I think this one will be a fast and light read.


Graphic Novels

 

10. Comics!- I am on a comic book kick this summer; I plan to read as many as I can. Right now I have tons of Robin and Wonder Woman to read.

What are your favorite genres to read by the pool, on the beach. or even on your couch in the summer?
Side note: does anyone else miss Mad Men as much as I do?

Recently Read: Robin Archive Vol. 1

Author: Various
Genre: Comic Collection
Page Count: 236
Publication Date: 2005
Rating: 4/5

Add on Goodreads

While at Comic Con (post on that here) I picked up this hardcover Robin Archives for five bucks on a whim. I had never read any Robin comics, but since this is volume one, it starts with Robin's very first solo comic appearance, which I thought sounded fun. I have been in a huge comic reading mood lately so this fit the bill. 

I really loved reading through this collection. The stories are so entertaining and cheesy, making them fun and fast reads. I loved seeing Robin beat Nazi hold-outs and battle for the safety of the Atomic Bomb (which also got my wheels spinning thinking about who Americans place as the villains in our stories over and over again through out time; spoiler alert: it's the Germans and Russians.) Some of the reviews of this collection are so critical and accuse Robin of being cheesy which to me is a big fat DUH! His comics started in the late 40's when all the comics were cheesy, and that's what makes them fun. I think people can be too critical of comics, which to me are meant firstly to entertain more so than contain a lot of substance, an issue is only twenty pages long for gosh sakes! 

I love the way the original comic book colors are preserved in this new version, and I have my eye out for more of these Archive editions because they are a really fun way to gain comic experience and enjoy the original story lines of these heroes. This was a perfect read to pick up while sitting in the sun or when I only had a short amount of time to dedicate to reading. These would be great for semester reading. 

Leave me your comic recommendations and thoughts!

Weekly Wrap-Up: Holiday Weekend

What's New:
This weekend is a long holiday weekend with Monday being Memorial Day, so I have a lot of plans to relax and hopefully read. I have been trying to get into some-what of a schedule for the summer but it's been a bit of struggle.

What I Read:
This week I read Robin Archive vol. 1 which I thought was a lot of fun and Paula McLain's Circling the Sun which I also really enjoyed (reviews coming next week.) McLain has become an auto-buy author for me as I have loved both of her historical fiction novels I have read so far. I am currently reading Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater and am totally sucked in. I will be following it up with The Raven King of course and I'm excited to see how this series ends and sad to see it finished.

 

 

What I Bought:
I didn't buy any books this week, but Out of Print was having their annual buy one get one free sale on their book t-shirts so of course I picked two up. If you have never checked out this site, please do (link is above); you will love it! I ended up ordering a Frankenstein t-shirt because I love this novel and have been working so closely with it this past semester and an On the Road t-shirt, another novel that I love. I love everything on this site! I have my eye on some of their socks next.

What I Posted:
Monday-Newest Favorite Poetry Discoveries
Wednesday-1 A.M. Discussion Post: Do You Feel Library Guilt?-- Let me know your thoughts here guys
Thursday-Her Treasures Poetry Collection Review

Last Week's Wrap-Up feat. Comic Con Loot Post

What's Next: 
I have two reviews, a Top Ten Tuesday, and possibly a tag planned for next week, which means I better get busy writing posts this weekend! Have a good holiday if you are in the States!

Stacking the Shelves Hosted by: tyngasreviews.com
The Sunday Post Hosted by: http://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/

Recently Read: Her Treasures

Author: Fida Islaih
Genre: Poetry
Publication Date: 2015
Page Count: 64
Rating: 3.5/5

Add on Goodreads

I was provided a copy of this poetry collection by the author in 

exchange for an honest review. 

It's no secret that I love poetry as I talk about it on the blog all the time, and I have also mentioned my desire to get into some modern poetry and poets as that is an area of poetry that I know very little about, so when Fida contacted me about her poetry collection I said yes of course. 

This collection was really unique. It almost reads as a travel diary in poetic form in the first section, and the moves to thoughts on war, and finally personal loves of the author. This collection contains the authors experiences and thoughts about her culture, heritage, and travels to Malaysia. I really enjoyed the topics of this collection. It felt both personal and thoughtful and allowed me to experience a new point of view.

The collection is broken into five large sections with smaller poems within them which made for fast and engaging reading. My favorite poem in the collection was the second section which deals with war and foreign invasion. The voice in this poem is particularly powerful.

This collection covers a wide range of themes and topics from Islamic culture, travel, war, and the joys or reading and writing. If you are new to modern poetry like myself, I think this is a really great collection to start out with, but I think you will enjoy it if you are a modern poetry buff as well. This collection was a quick and enjoyable bit of poetry to add into my day.

P.S. you can visit Fida's blog here! 

1: A.M. Post: Do You Feel Library Guilt? Reading My Books vs. Library Books

I'm home for the summer, which means I am six minutes away from my local library again and I have more time to read. This is great and also stressful. Let me explain; I love my library and I especially love to get graphic novels from my library as they are so expensive to own, but I also own a stack of unread books that is at least twice as tall as I am. Therefore, when I go to the library and check out a book or get an ebook from my library's catalog and read it, I am not reading one of the books belonging to the aforementioned stack.

Because of this, I can feel guilty and stressed while reading books from the library, particularly if I take a while to read them, because that means I'm not reducing my TBR pile of books that I paid for. Now, I buy a lot of my books used or discounted, but I still spent money on them and they still take up physical space in my room and are a physical reminder that I'm not reading them every time I look at them (which is quite often.)

I love my library and really like to take advantage of being so close to it while I'm staying at my parents house, but I also really want to reduce the number of unread books I own. I think part of the problem is that as a college student, summer is the only time I can really read material of my own choosing, so I try to cram in as much reading as I can which also causes stress and probably causes me to read less.

Basically, my overthinking brain is making something fun and recreational into a chore and a stressful event, which is not what I want. This summer, I'm going to just read freely from my own shelves and my libraries shelves. A good book is a blessing no matter where it came from, and I love supporting my local library.

Me reading everything and not caring where it came from

Do you guys feel this way about borrowing from the library? Do you ever feel guilty about not reading books you already own? Help me out here and tell me I'm not alone.

Newest Favorite Poetry Discoveries

If you guys have been here before than you know that I LOVE poetry. This semester I took my last literature course for my degree (Modern British Literature) and while that makes me a little happy and sad at the same time, I found some really great new poems through this class. We spent a lot of time on the Romantic period, something that I did not have much experience with before hand, and then moved on through to the modern short story. Here's a few of my favorite poems from the class.

I have linked you to the poems, so just click on them to read them.

Romantic Era
"Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey" by William Wordsworth
"Frost at Midnight" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
These two are great examples of the nature imagery and love of nature that dominated Romantic poetry as well as nature's connection to humanity.

"Written in the Churchyard in Middleton in Sussex" by Charlotte Smith
This one is quite a haunting look at nature and humanity's connection.

WWI 
"They" by Siegfried Sassoon
"Glory of Women" by Siegfried Sassoon
WWI has inspired some of the greatest poems of all time, and I will be adding these to my favorite war poems. Both are so bitter, biting, and question the morals and presumptions of the most powerful nations in the world.

Modernist 
"The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats
"September 1, 1939" by W.H. Auden
Modernism is really interesting and complicated. I would love to tackle it in a Literary Look post soon because I want to learn more about it myself. These two poems deal with the inevitable doom of humanity and the world, which is always a great topic for poetry. Sept. 1, 1939 is the day that Hitler invaded Poland, that's information you will need before reading that poem.

As always, I would love for you to recommend me some of your favorite poems.

Weekly Wrap-Up: Back to Blogging!

What's New:
I'm finally back to blogging and reading after the busiest semester ever! I've got lots of blogging and reading plans for the summer, and I'm loving getting back into the swing of things. The weather is warming up and I can't wait for the sun to be permanently out. This past weekend, I attended my third Comic Con (a post with details and my loot is linked below) and that was a lot of fun. It really reignited my love of comic books and put me in the mood for comics and graphic novels. Let me know some of your favorite comics and graphic novels so I can add them to my list!

What I Read:
I haven't done much reading over the past few months, but I have done some reading since school has been out. It always takes me a couple of weeks to get into the reading groove after school lets out, so I'm hoping I will hit my groove soon!

 

I reread Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets during the end of the semester because I needed something I could keep up with while going days at a time without reading it. I loved it of course and want to continue rereading the series. This past week, I started and finished Black Widow: Forever Red after watching Civil War. This one was a lot of fun and really fast paced. My review is linked below. I'm currently reading Circling the Sun by Paula McLain. I really enjoyed her debut novel The Paris Wife so I'm excited to get into this one.

New Books:

From the Library

Purchased 

What I Posted:
Reading and Life Update!
Reflections on Comic Con, Loot, and Reflections on Women in Comics
Next on my Watch List: Classic Movie Haul
Recently Read: Black Widow: Forever Red

What's Next: 
Next week I'll be sharing some of my new favorite poetry finds, posting my first Top Ten Tuesday in forever, and hopefully reviewing a poetry collection.

Which books top your summer reading list?

Stacking the Shelves hosted by: Tynga's Reviews
The Sunday Post Hosted by: Caffeinated Book Reviewer